Landscape suitability in Botswana for the conservation of its six large African carnivores

Abstract:

Wide-ranging large carnivores often range beyond the boundaries of protected areas into human-dominated areas.
Mapping out potentially suitable habitats on a country-wide scale and identifying areas with potentially high levels of
threats to large carnivore survival is necessary to develop national conservation action plans. We used a novel approach to
map and identify these areas in Botswana for its large carnivore guild consisting of lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera
pardus), spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta), brown hyaena (Hyaena brunnea), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and African wild dog
(Lycaon pictus). The habitat suitability for large carnivores depends primarily on prey availability, interspecific competition,
and conflict with humans. Prey availability is most likely the strongest natural determinant. We used the distribution of
biomass of typical wild ungulate species occurring in Botswana which is preyed upon by the six large carnivores to evaluate
the potential suitability of the different management zones in the country to sustain large carnivore populations. In areas
where a high biomass of large prey species occurred, we assumed interspecific competition between dominant and
subordinated competitors to be high. This reduced the suitability of these areas for conservation of subordinate
competitors, and vice versa. We used the percentage of prey biomass of the total prey and livestock biomass to identify
areas with potentially high levels of conflict in agricultural areas. High to medium biomass of large prey was mostly confined
to conservation zones, while small prey biomass was more evenly spread across large parts of the country. This necessitates
different conservation strategies for carnivores with a preference for large prey, and those that can persist in the agricultural
areas. To ensure connectivity between populations inside Botswana and also with its neighbours, a number of critical areas
for priority management actions exist in the agricultural zones.